JP2010214686A - Liquid droplet ejecting type printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid droplet ejecting type printing apparatus which can secure an arrangement state of the whole nozzles in the case of arranging a plurality of liquid droplet ejecting head blocks side by side. <P>SOLUTION: The printing apparatus includes the plurality of liquid droplet ejecting head blocks 2 equipped with both cavities 32 that pressurize an ejection liquid by communicating with nozzles 31 and nozzle actuators 22 that are arranged in the cavities 32 and drive by an applied driving signal COM to eject liquid droplets from the nozzles 31, a controller which applies the driving signal COM to the nozzle actuators 22, a plurality of nozzle opening plates 7 where the nozzles 31 are opened correspondingly to the plurality of liquid droplet ejecting head blocks 2, and a nozzle opening plate fixing member 11 which positions the plurality of nozzle opening plates 7 and fixes the nozzle opening plates 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a droplet discharge printing apparatus that prints predetermined characters, images, and the like by discharging minute droplets from a plurality of nozzles and forming fine particles (dots) on a print medium. It is about.

Since the droplet discharge type printing apparatus is generally inexpensive and easily obtains a high-quality color printed matter, it has been widely used not only in offices but also in general users with the spread of personal computers and digital cameras.
Among such droplet discharge type printing apparatuses, a device that moves a droplet discharge head on which droplet discharge nozzles are formed on a moving body called a carriage in a direction crossing the conveyance direction of the print medium is generally referred to as “multiple”. It is called a “pass-type printing device”. On the other hand, a device capable of performing printing in a so-called one pass by disposing a long droplet discharge head in a direction crossing the conveyance direction of the print medium is generally called a “line head type printing apparatus”.

  In this type of droplet ejection printing apparatus, a plurality of nozzles for ejecting liquid are formed on the droplet ejection head, and each nozzle is connected to a pressure chamber for pressurizing the ejected liquid. A nozzle actuator such as a piezoelectric element is disposed in the chamber, and a droplet is ejected from the corresponding nozzle toward the print medium by applying a drive signal to each nozzle actuator. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 discloses positioning the main body of each droplet discharge head block itself when constructing a line head type printing apparatus by arranging a plurality of droplet discharge head blocks each having a plurality of nozzles.

JP 2005-254493 A

When a line head type printing apparatus is constructed by arranging a plurality of droplet discharge head blocks, the most important is the arrangement state of the entire nozzles. However, in the droplet discharge type printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the head positioning is basically fixed at the position where the main body of the droplet discharge head block having a plurality of nozzles is held. In order to ensure the entire nozzle arrangement, such as the error between the main body and nozzles, the error between the main bodies of the plurality of droplet discharge head blocks will be accumulated, and finally a mechanism for adjusting the head position will be provided. It takes time and effort.
The present invention has been developed by paying attention to these problems, and in the case where a plurality of droplet discharge head blocks are arranged side by side, the droplet discharge that can ensure the entire nozzle arrangement state. An object of the present invention is to provide a mold printing apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, a droplet discharge printing apparatus of the present invention is a droplet discharge printing apparatus that performs printing by discharging droplets from nozzles, and adds discharge liquid in communication with the nozzles. A plurality of liquid droplet ejection head blocks provided with pressure chambers, a plurality of liquid droplet ejection head blocks which are disposed in the pressure chambers and driven by an applied drive signal to eject liquid droplets from the nozzles, and drive signals to the nozzle actuators A plurality of nozzle opening plates having nozzles corresponding to each of the plurality of droplet discharge head blocks, positioning the plurality of nozzle opening plates, and fixing the nozzle opening plates. And a nozzle opening plate fixing member.
According to this droplet discharge type printing apparatus, a plurality of nozzle aperture plates corresponding to a plurality of droplet discharge head blocks and having a plurality of nozzles are positioned by the nozzle aperture plate fixing member and fixed to the nozzle aperture plates. By fixing to the member, it is possible to ensure the arrangement state of the entire nozzle.

1 is a schematic configuration front view showing an embodiment of a droplet discharge type printing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the vicinity of a droplet discharge head used in the droplet discharge printing apparatus of FIG. 1. It is a block diagram of the control apparatus of the droplet discharge type printing apparatus of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the drive signal which drives the nozzle actuator in each droplet discharge head. It is a block diagram of a switching controller. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the drive circuit of a nozzle actuator. It is a block diagram of the droplet discharge head of FIG. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the digital power amplifier circuit of FIG. 6. It is a block diagram of the smoothing filter of FIG. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of the vicinity of a nozzle actuator of the droplet discharge head of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a first embodiment of a nozzle opening plate and a nozzle opening plate fixing member of the droplet discharge head block of FIG. 1. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of 2nd Embodiment of the nozzle aperture plate and nozzle aperture plate fixing member of the droplet discharge head block of FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of 3rd Embodiment of the nozzle aperture plate and nozzle aperture plate fixing member of the droplet discharge head block of FIG. It is a top view of 4th Embodiment of the nozzle aperture plate and nozzle aperture plate fixing member of the droplet discharge head block of FIG.

Next, an embodiment of the droplet discharge printing apparatus of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the drawing, a print medium 1 is conveyed in the direction of an arrow from the left to the right in the figure, and is printed in a printing area in the middle of the conveyance. It is a line head type printing apparatus.
Reference numeral 2 in FIG. 1 denotes a plurality of droplet discharge head blocks provided above the conveyance line of the print medium 1, so as to form two rows in the print medium conveyance direction and in a direction crossing the print medium conveyance direction. They are arranged side by side and fixed to a nozzle opening plate fixing member (fixed plate material) 11 described later. A corresponding nozzle opening plate 7 is attached to the lowermost surface of each droplet discharge head block 2, and a number of nozzles are formed on each of the nozzle opening plates 7, and this surface is called a nozzle surface. It is. As shown in FIG. 2, the nozzles are arranged in rows in the direction intersecting the print medium conveyance direction for each color of the liquid to be ejected. The rows are called nozzle rows, or the row directions are nozzles. Sometimes called the row direction. A line head that extends over the entire length in the direction intersecting the transport direction of the print medium 1 is formed by the nozzle rows of all the droplet discharge head blocks 2 arranged in the direction intersecting the print medium transport direction. . When the print medium 1 passes below the nozzle surfaces of these droplet discharge head blocks 2, droplets are discharged from a large number of nozzles formed on the nozzle aperture plate 7 and printing is performed.

  In the droplet discharge head block 2, liquids such as yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) inks are supplied from liquid tanks of respective colors (not shown) through liquid supply tubes. Supplied. Then, a necessary amount of droplets are simultaneously ejected from the nozzles of the nozzle opening plate 7 attached to each droplet ejection head block 2 to necessary locations, thereby outputting minute dots on the print medium 1. By performing this for each color, it is possible to perform printing by so-called one-pass only by passing the print medium 1 conveyed by the conveyance unit 4 once.

  As a method of discharging droplets from each nozzle of the droplet discharge head, there are an electrostatic method, a piezo method, a film boiling droplet discharge method, and the like, and the piezo method is used in this embodiment. In the piezo method, when a drive signal is given to a piezoelectric element that is a nozzle actuator, the diaphragm in the pressure chamber (also referred to as a cavity) is displaced, causing a pressure change in the cavity, and a droplet is ejected from the nozzle by the pressure change. It is to be done. The droplet discharge amount can be adjusted by adjusting the peak value of the drive signal and the voltage increase / decrease slope. Note that the present invention can be similarly applied to droplet discharge methods other than the piezo method.

  Below the droplet discharge head block 2, a transport unit 4 for transporting the print medium 1 in the transport direction is provided. The conveying unit 4 is configured by winding a conveying belt 6 around a driving roller 8 and a driven roller 9, and an electric motor (not shown) is connected to the driving roller 8. An adsorption device (not shown) for adsorbing the print medium 1 to the surface of the conveyance belt 6 is provided inside the conveyance belt 6. As this adsorption device, an air suction device that adsorbs the print medium 1 to the conveyance belt 6 by negative pressure, an electrostatic adsorption device that adsorbs the print medium 1 to the conveyance belt 6 by electrostatic force, or the like is used. Accordingly, when only one sheet of the printing medium 1 is fed from the sheet feeding unit 3 to the conveying belt 6 by the sheet feeding roller 5 and the driving roller 8 is rotationally driven by the electric motor, the conveying belt 6 is rotated in the printing medium conveying direction. The print medium 1 is adsorbed to the conveyance belt 6 by the adsorption device and conveyed. While the printing medium 1 is being conveyed, printing is performed by ejecting droplets from the droplet ejection head block 2. The print medium 1 that has finished printing is discharged to the paper discharge unit 10 on the downstream side in the transport direction. The transport belt 6 is provided with a printing reference signal output device composed of a linear encoder or the like. This printing reference signal output device pays attention to the fact that the transport belt 6 and the print medium 1 that is attracted and transported by the transport belt 6 are moved synchronously, and after the print medium 1 passes through a predetermined position in the transport path. A pulse signal corresponding to the printing resolution required in accordance with the movement of the conveying belt 6 is output, and a drive signal is output from a drive circuit described later to the nozzle actuator in accordance with the pulse signal, whereby a predetermined signal on the print medium 1 is output. A droplet of a predetermined color is ejected at a position, and a predetermined image is drawn on the print medium 1 by the dot.

  A control device for controlling itself is provided in the printing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 3, the control device performs printing processing on a print medium by controlling a printing device, a paper feeding device, and the like based on print data input from a host computer 60 such as a personal computer or a digital camera. Is what you do. An input interface 61 for reading print data input from the host computer 60, and a control unit 62 configured by a microcomputer that executes arithmetic processing such as print processing based on the print data input from the input interface 61; The paper feed roller motor driver 63 for driving and controlling the paper feed roller motor 17 connected to the paper feed roller 5, the head driver 65 for driving and controlling each droplet discharge head block 2, and the drive roller 8 are connected. The electric motor driver 66 for driving and controlling the electric motor 7, the paper feed roller motor driver 63, the head driver 65, the electric motor driver 66 and the paper feed roller motor 17, the droplet discharge head block 2, and the electric motor 7. And an interface 67 to be connected.

  The control unit 62 temporarily stores a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 62a that executes various processes such as a print process, and print data input through the input interface 61 or various data when the print data print process is executed. A random access memory (RAM) 62c that temporarily stores a program such as a print process or a nonvolatile semiconductor memory that stores a control program executed by the CPU 62a. ) 62d. When the control unit 62 obtains print data (image data) from the host computer 60 via the interface 61, the CPU 62a executes a predetermined process on the print data to determine which of the droplet discharge head blocks 2 is. Nozzle selection data (driving signal selection data) indicating whether or not how many droplets are to be ejected from each nozzle is calculated, and based on this print data, driving signal selection data, and input data from various sensors Then, a control signal is output to each driver 63, 65, 66. A drive signal for driving the actuator is output from each of the drivers 63, 65, and 66, and the paper feed roller motor 17, the electric motor 7, the nozzle actuator in the droplet discharge head block 2, and the like are operated to print media. 1 paper feed, conveyance, paper discharge, and print processing on the print medium 1 are executed. Each component in the control unit 62 is electrically connected through a bus (not shown).

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a drive signal COM that is supplied from the control device of the printing apparatus of the present embodiment to the droplet discharge head block 2 and drives a nozzle actuator made of a piezoelectric element. In the present embodiment, a signal whose potential changes around an intermediate potential is used. This drive signal COM is a time series connection of drive pulses PCOM as unit drive signals for driving the nozzle actuator to eject droplets, and the rising portion of each drive pulse PCOM communicates with the nozzle ( In this stage, the volume of the pressure chamber is expanded and the liquid is drawn (which can be said to draw a meniscus in view of the liquid discharge surface), and the falling portion of the drive pulse PCOM reduces the volume of the cavity to push out the liquid ( Considering the liquid discharge surface, it can be said that the meniscus is extruded). As a result of the liquid being extruded, droplets are discharged from the nozzle.

  By variously changing the voltage increase / decrease slope and peak value of the driving pulse PCOM composed of this voltage trapezoidal wave, the liquid drawing amount and drawing speed, the liquid pushing amount and the pushing speed can be changed. By changing the discharge amount, dots of different sizes can be obtained. Therefore, even when a plurality of drive pulses PCOM are connected in time series, a single drive pulse PCOM is selected and supplied to the actuator, and droplets are ejected, or a plurality of drive pulses PCOM are selected and the actuator is selected. In this way, dots of various sizes can be obtained by discharging a plurality of droplets. That is, if a plurality of droplets land at the same position before the droplets are dried, it is substantially the same as ejecting a large droplet, and the size of the dots can be increased. By combining such techniques, it is possible to increase the number of gradations. Note that the driving pulse PCOM1 at the left end in FIG. This is called microvibration and is used to suppress and prevent the increase in the viscosity of the nozzle without discharging droplets.

  In addition to the drive signal COM, each droplet discharge head block 2 selects a nozzle to be ejected based on print data as a control signal from the control device in FIG. 3 and also drives a drive signal COM for a nozzle actuator such as a piezoelectric element. After the drive signal selection data SI & SP for determining the connection timing to the nozzle and the nozzle selection data are input to all the nozzles, the drive signal COM and the nozzle actuator of the droplet discharge head block 2 are connected based on the drive signal selection data SI & SP. A clock signal CLK for transmitting the latch signal LAT, the channel signal CH, and the drive signal selection data SI & SP as serial signals to the droplet discharge head block 2 is input. Hereinafter, the minimum unit of the drive signal for driving the nozzle actuator is referred to as a drive pulse PCOM, and the entire signal in which the drive pulses PCOM are connected in time series is referred to as a drive signal COM. That is, a series of drive signals COM starts to be output in response to the latch signal LAT, and a drive pulse PCOM is output for each channel signal CH.

  FIG. 5 shows a specific configuration of the switching controller constructed in each droplet discharge head block 2 in order to supply the drive signal COM (drive pulse PCOM) to the nozzle actuator 22. This switching controller temporarily stores the shift register 211 that stores drive signal selection data SI & SP for designating the nozzle actuator 22 such as a piezoelectric element corresponding to the nozzle that should eject the droplets, and the data in the shift register 211. And a level shifter 213 for connecting the drive signal COM to the nozzle actuator 22 such as a piezo element by converting the level of the output of the latch circuit 212 and supplying the output to the selection switch 201.

  The drive signal selection data signal SI & SP is sequentially input to the shift register 211, and the storage area is sequentially shifted from the first stage to the subsequent stage in accordance with the input pulse of the clock signal CLK. The latch circuit 212 latches each output signal of the shift register 211 by the input latch signal LAT after the drive signal selection data SI & SP for the number of nozzles is stored in the shift register 211. The signal stored in the latch circuit 212 is converted by the level shifter 213 to a voltage level at which the selection switch 201 at the next stage can be turned on / off. This is because the drive signal COM is higher than the output voltage of the latch circuit 212, and the operating voltage range of the selection switch 201 is set higher accordingly. Accordingly, a nozzle actuator such as a piezoelectric element whose selection switch 201 is closed by the level shifter 213 is connected to the drive signal COM (drive pulse PCOM) at the connection timing of the drive signal selection data SI & SP. Further, after the drive signal selection data SI & SP of the shift register 211 is stored in the latch circuit 212, the next print information is input to the shift register 211, and the stored data in the latch circuit 212 is sequentially updated in accordance with the droplet discharge timing. To do. In addition, the code | symbol HGND in a figure is a ground end of nozzle actuators, such as a piezoelectric element. Further, according to the selection switch 201, even after the nozzle actuator such as a piezoelectric element is disconnected from the drive signal COM (drive pulse PCOM), the input voltage of the nozzle actuator 22 is maintained at the voltage just before the disconnection.

  FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration of the drive circuit of the nozzle actuator. A number of nozzles are formed in the nozzle opening plate 7 of the droplet discharge head block 2 constituting the line head type printing apparatus, and each of the nozzle actuators 22 is provided as shown in FIG. A selection switch 201 composed of a transmission gate is arranged upstream of the nozzle actuators 22, and the drive signal COM (drive pulse PCOM) is applied only to the nozzle actuators 22 with the selection switch 201 turned on. .

  The drive circuit according to the present embodiment generates a drive waveform signal WCOM that serves as a reference of a signal for controlling the drive of the nozzle actuator 22 based on the drive waveform data DWCOM stored in advance. A signal generation circuit 25, a modulation circuit 26 that performs pulse modulation on the drive waveform signal WCOM generated by the drive waveform signal generation circuit 25, and a digital power amplification circuit that performs power amplification on the modulation signal pulse-modulated by the modulation circuit 26, so-called D And a smoothing filter 29 that smoothes the power amplification modulation signal amplified by the digital power amplifier 28 and supplies it to the nozzle actuator 22 from the selection switch 201 as the drive signal COM (drive pulse PCOM). Is done.

  The drive waveform signal generation circuit 25 converts the drive waveform data DWCOM output from the CPU 62a into a voltage signal, holds it for a predetermined sampling period, converts it into an analog signal by a D / A converter, and outputs it as a drive waveform signal WCOM. To do. A known pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit is used for the modulation circuit 26 that performs pulse modulation on the drive waveform signal WCOM. In the pulse width modulation, a reference signal such as a triangular wave signal or a sawtooth wave signal having a predetermined frequency is compared with an input signal, in this case, the drive waveform signal WCOM. The modulated signal is output. The modulation circuit 26 may be a known pulse modulation circuit such as a pulse density modulation (PDM) circuit. In any case, the modulation circuit 26 can be configured by arithmetic processing by a program.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the digital power amplifier circuit 28 includes a half-bridge class D output stage 21 composed of a high-side switching element Q1 and a low-side switching element Q2 for substantially amplifying power, and a modulation circuit 26. And a gate drive circuit 30 for adjusting the gate-source signals GH and GL of the switching elements Q1 and Q2 based on the modulation signal. In the digital power amplifier circuit 28, when the modulation signal is at a high level, the gate-source signal GH of the high-side switching element Q1 is at a high level, and the gate-source signal GL of the low-side switching element Q2 is at a low level. Therefore, the high-side switching element Q1 is turned on and the low-side switching element Q2 is turned off. As a result, the output of the half-bridge class D output stage 21 is the supply voltage VDD. On the other hand, when the modulation signal is at a low level, the gate-source signal GH of the high-side switching element Q1 is at a low level, and the gate-source signal GL of the low-side switching element Q2 is at a high level. The side switching element Q1 is turned off and the low side switching element Q2 is turned on. As a result, the output of the half-bridge output stage 21 becomes zero.

As the smoothing filter 29, a third-order filter including two capacitors C1 and C2, a coil L, and a resistor R was used as shown in FIG. The smoothing filter 29 attenuates and removes the modulation frequency generated by the modulation circuit 26, that is, the frequency component of pulse modulation, and outputs the drive signal COM (drive pulse PCOM) having the waveform characteristics as described above.
FIG. 10 shows details of the nozzles and nozzle actuators in the droplet discharge head block 2 of FIG. Reference numeral 31 in the drawing is a nozzle established in the nozzle opening plate 7. As described above, a cavity (pressure chamber) 32 for pressurizing the liquid to be discharged is connected to the nozzle 31, and the nozzle actuator 22 is attached to the upper surface of the cavity 32 via the vibration plate 35. Yes. A reservoir (also referred to as a storage chamber) 33 for storing liquid is connected to the cavity 32, and discharged liquid is supplied from the liquid tank to the reservoir 33 through a tube. A nozzle actuator 22 composed of a piezoelectric element (also called a piezoelectric vibrator) is attached to a support member 36, and the support member 36 is fixed to a fixed member 37. The nozzle actuator 22 expands and contracts in the vertical direction in FIG. This expansion / contraction force is transmitted to the diaphragm 35, and the liquid droplets are ejected from the nozzle 31 by enlarging or reducing the inside of the cavity 32 as described above.

  FIG. 11 shows details of the nozzle opening plate 7 and the nozzle opening plate fixing member 11 of the droplet discharge head block 2. Although only one nozzle aperture plate 7 is shown in the figure, the other five nozzle aperture plates 7 are similarly fixed to the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11. In the first embodiment, an upper concave portion 41 into which the nozzle aperture plate 7 is closely fitted is formed on the upper surface of the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11, and the nozzle aperture plate 7 is fitted into the upper concave portion 41 from above, and an adhesive is used. The nozzle opening plate 7 is positioned and fixed by being fixed by, for example. Note that a through opening 42 is continuously provided in the recess 41, and the nozzle faces downward from the through opening 42.

  By positioning and fixing the nozzle aperture plate 7 in which a plurality of nozzles are established to the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11, the error between the nozzle and the main body as in the case of fixing the droplet discharge block main body to the fixing member, and the main bodies Relatively large errors are not accumulated, for example, errors in the upper concave portion 41 formed in the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11, errors in the nozzle aperture plate 7, errors in the nozzle aperture plate 7 and the nozzle. Since accumulation of small errors is sufficient, it is possible to secure the arrangement state of all the nozzles when all the nozzle aperture plates 7 are positioned and fixed to the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11.

  As described above, according to the droplet discharge type printing apparatus of the present embodiment, when printing is performed by discharging droplets from the plurality of nozzles 31, the plurality of nozzles that pressurize the discharge liquid in communication with each of the plurality of nozzles 31. And a plurality of droplet discharge head blocks 2 each having a plurality of nozzle actuators 22 that are disposed in each of the cavities 32 and the plurality of cavities 32 and are driven by the applied drive signal COM to discharge droplets from the nozzles 31. A control device that applies a drive signal COM to the nozzle actuator 22, a plurality of nozzle aperture plates 7 each having a nozzle 31 corresponding to each of the plurality of droplet discharge head blocks 2, and a plurality of nozzle aperture plates 7 And a nozzle opening plate fixing member 11 for fixing the nozzle opening plates 7 to secure the entire nozzle arrangement state. It becomes possible.

  FIG. 12 shows details of the nozzle aperture plate 7 and the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11 of the droplet ejection head block 2 as a second embodiment of the droplet ejection type printing apparatus of the present invention. Although only one nozzle aperture plate 7 is shown in the figure, the other five nozzle aperture plates 7 are similarly fixed to the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11. In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the nozzle opening plate 7 is directly fixed to the bottom surface of the upper recess 41 of the nozzle opening plate fixing member 11 with an adhesive, whereas in the second embodiment, the nozzle opening plate fixing member is used. 11, the nozzle opening plate 7 is only positioned and fitted, and an individual rectangular annular adhesive member 43 is fitted on the upper side of the nozzle opening plate 7. The nozzle aperture plate 7 is fixed to the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11. If an adhesive is present between the nozzle opening plate 7 and the bottom surface of the upper recess 41, the thickness of the adhesive layer is inevitably affected. In order to avoid the influence of the thickness of the adhesive layer, in this embodiment, the adhesive member 43 is fitted on the opposite side of the bottom surface of the upper concave portion 41 with respect to the nozzle opening plate 7 fitted on the bottom surface of the upper concave portion 41. The adhesive member 43 is bonded to the side surface of the upper recess 41.

  FIG. 13 shows details of the nozzle aperture plate 7 and the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11 of the droplet ejection head block 2 as a third embodiment of the droplet ejection printing apparatus of the present invention. Although only one nozzle aperture plate 7 is shown in the figure, the other five nozzle aperture plates 7 are similarly fixed to the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11. In the present embodiment, a lower concave portion 44 into which the nozzle aperture plate 7 is closely fitted is formed on the opposite side of the upper concave portion 41 of the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11, and the nozzle aperture plate 7 is fitted into the lower concave portion 44. The lower end 2a of the droplet discharge head block 2 is inserted into the through opening 42 of the upper recess 41, and the inserted lower end 2a and the nozzle opening plate 7 are fixed with an adhesive or a molding agent. Of course, when the nozzle opening plate 7 is fitted into the lower recessed portion 44, the lower recessed portion 44 is formed so that the nozzle established in the nozzle opening plate 7 is in an appropriate position.

  FIG. 14 shows the details of the positioning method of the nozzle aperture plate 7 and the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11 as the fourth embodiment of the droplet discharge type printing apparatus of the present invention. Although only one nozzle aperture plate 7 is shown in the figure, the other five nozzle aperture plates 7 are similarly fixed to the nozzle aperture plate fixing member 11. In the present embodiment, as in the first to third embodiments, the nozzle opening plate fixing member 11 is not formed with a recess, and only the rectangular through opening 42 is opened as shown in FIG. 14A. Then, small cylindrical projections 46 were formed at two locations on the outer diagonal of the rectangular through opening 42. On the other hand, the rectangular nozzle opening plate 7 attached so as to cover the through-opening portion 42 of the nozzle opening plate fixing member 11 is also provided with a circular hole 45 into which the projection 46 is closely fitted at a position facing the projection 46. . Then, as shown in FIG. 14 b, the protrusion 46 of the nozzle opening plate fixing member 11 is inserted into the circular hole 45 of the nozzle opening plate 7 to position both, and the peripheral edge of the through opening 42 and the nozzle opening plate 7 The peripheral part was fixed with an adhesive. By doing so, it is not necessary to form a precise recess. In addition, holes facing both the nozzle opening plate and the nozzle opening plate fixing member may be formed, and these holes may be guided and fixed by bonding with a pin or the like. Moreover, you may use together the positioning structure by such a guide to the said 1st-3rd embodiment.

  In the above embodiment, only the case where the liquid droplet ejection apparatus of the present invention is used in a line head type liquid droplet ejection printing apparatus has been described in detail. However, the liquid droplet ejection apparatus of the present invention is a multi-pass type liquid ejection apparatus. The present invention can be similarly applied to a droplet discharge type printing apparatus. Moreover, printing apparatuses other than these printing apparatus forms may be used, and the present invention can be similarly applied to apparatuses that perform printing by discharging droplets in the industrial field, the medical field, and the like.

  In the above embodiment, the liquid droplet ejection apparatus of the present invention is embodied to eject liquid such as ink. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and liquid other than ink (in addition to liquid, particles of functional material) Or a liquid droplet ejecting apparatus that ejects or ejects a fluid other than a liquid (such as a solid that can be ejected by flowing as a fluid). it can. For example, a liquid material ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid material that contains materials such as electrode materials and color materials used in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays, EL (electroluminescence) displays, surface-emitting displays, and color filters in a dispersed or dissolved form. Further, it may be a droplet discharge device that discharges a bio-organic material used in biochip manufacturing, or a droplet discharge device that discharges a liquid as a sample that is used as a precision pipette. In addition, transparent resin such as UV curable resin for forming droplet ejector, micro hemispherical lens (optical lens) used for optical communication elements, etc. Droplet discharge device that discharges liquid onto the substrate, droplet discharge device that discharges etching liquid such as acid or alkali to etch the substrate, etc., fluid discharge device that discharges gel, powder such as toner For example, a fluid discharge type recording apparatus that discharges a solid may be used. The present invention can be applied to any one of these discharge devices.

1 is a print medium, 2 is a droplet discharge head block, 3 is a paper feed unit, 4 is a transport unit, 5 is a paper feed roller, 6 is a transport belt, 7 is an electric motor, 8 is a drive roller, 9 is a driven roller, 10 is a paper discharge unit, 11 is a fixed plate, 21 is a half-bridge class D output stage, 22 is a nozzle actuator, 25 is a drive waveform signal generation circuit, 26 is a modulation circuit, 28 is a digital power amplification circuit, 29 is a smoothing filter, 30 is a gate drive circuit, 31 is a nozzle, 32 is a cavity (pressure chamber), 33 is a reservoir (storage chamber), 35 is a diaphragm, 36 is a support member, 37 is a fixing member, 41 is an upper recess, and 42 is a through opening. Part, 43 is an adhesive member, 44 is a lower recess, 45 is a circular hole, 46 is a protrusion, and 65 is a head driver.

Claims (1)

A droplet discharge printing apparatus that performs printing by discharging droplets from a nozzle,
A plurality of pressure chambers that communicate with the nozzles and pressurize the discharge liquid, and a plurality of nozzle actuators that are disposed in the plurality of pressure chambers and that are driven by an applied drive signal to discharge droplets from the nozzles. A droplet discharge head block of
A control device for applying the drive signal to the nozzle actuator;
A plurality of nozzle aperture plates in which nozzles are opened corresponding to each of the plurality of droplet discharge head blocks;
Positioning the plurality of nozzle aperture plates, and a nozzle aperture plate fixing member for fixing the nozzle aperture plates;
A droplet discharge type printing apparatus comprising:

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